I don't know if anyone is still looking at this blog but I'll add a few things.

We stayed the last night in Buenos Aires in our Recoleta apartment close to the hospital. Unfortunately just before Kelly got out of the hospital, the heavy metal blinds on the front window came loose from their cord and closed the front windows so that there was no view. Too bad because the view was pleasant and very typical of BA and looked across the street to a balcony where a good sized tortoise lived. Anyway, the apartment was still nice and light from the back windows. The owner, Conyers Thompson +54 11 4812-9279, owns several very nice apartments in BA and is recommended.

We had to go to Hospital Aleman every 8 hours for outpatient IV antibiotics to be given through the emergency room. If there is a hell, it is having to go to the emergency room every 8 hours although actually that turned out to be not true. Fortunately, many of the doctors and nurses who worked in the ED also worked on the floor where Kelly had been a patient. They knew her and, after kisses all around, would try to do whatever they could to expedite things. It was a little odd since there, you go to the pharmacy and buy the antibiotics and then bring it to the ED and give it to the nurses to administer. Its risky because the nurses seem to rely on you to tell them what to give. I did catch them once getting ready to give Kelly the wrong antibiotic at the wrong time. In this particular case it wouldn't have made much difference but was concerning when you realize that most people are not trained in pharmacology.

We decided that Kelly was well enough to travel and, although it was hard to communicate because the Argentine land and cell phone systems tends to go wacky on big holidays, we were lucky enough to find a Delta representative in BA who was helpful. He got us the last seats on the flight out New Years Eve, Buenos Aires to Atlanta, and the next day, Atlanta to Albuquerque. We got a cab to the airport and I sweated it out as I watched, with 20 miles or more to go, the needle of the gas tank on empty - we had heard several stories of cabs breaking down or running out of gas but luck was on our side this time.

The departure airport in BA has no air conditioning but does have a line for Delta pre-security, a line for baggage check-in, a line for rebooking our flight, a line to pay the airport tax, a line to go through security to enter the boarding area, and finally a line to get into the gate area (where they confiscated the water that we had just bought thinking that we were done with security). When they say come 3 hours early, they mean it. Playing up - 'my wife just had emergency spine surgery' angle got us seats together at the bulkhead on both the flight to Atlanta and to Albuquerque.

The flight to Atlanta was uneventful except for the fact that you just have to keep pestering the overworked, hastled stewardesses to give you another 4 oz of water so that you don't get too dehydrated.

In Atlanta we had a 5 hour layover and sprang for $25 each (I tried the 'My wife just...." angle but it didn't work this time) to get into the Crown room where there was some quiet and room for Kelly to lie down. It was definitely worth it as we were both exhausted and anxious and the airport was packed and chaotic. I had a bunch of calls to make and there were free computers, internet, printers and copiers that made things much easier.

The Albuquerque Airport was a disaster. Prior to our arrival, the airport had been closed due to record snows and then fog. There was stored baggage all over the place. We waited and waited for our bags to arrive. We finally got two out of three, and could not wait any longer - I was getting nervous as Kelly was going for 27 hours on a 24 hour dose of antibiotics. Our friends and tenants non-pariel, Dave and Brenda (for whom we intend to name our next child - little David Brenda or Brenda David) who brought us our car stayed at the airport and waited for my guitar to come out.

I had called in Atlanta to pre arrange things as much as possible to get antibiotics through the Presbyterian Hospital ER. I expected there to be some wait but when we got there it was - welcome to the true third world. We both missed Hospital Aleman more than I can tell you. After two hours there were still 25 people in front of us waiting to be triaged and an endless stream of ambulances taking new arrivals to the head of the line. The charge nurse I had talked to earlier couldn't do a thing until Kelly was at least triaged. I finally found a sympathetic triage nurse and got one of the on-call ID doctors to call in a verbal order so that Kelly could get her infusion.

Exhausted, we went home and both went to sleep at 6:30 PM and didn't get up until the next morning.

Today we went to the ID doctor and got set up for home IV antibiotics which Kelly will take for the next 5 weeks. Tomorrow we will see the local surgeon. Things are about back to normal.

Now we can begin planning our next trip to Buenos Aires.

HOME

Home. Tired. Sleep. More later.

Chau

Copied from a Blog called Sexy Spanish Club in Buenos Aires
http://sexyspanishclub.blogspot.com/2006/12/chau-means-i-am-your-slave.html
"Anyway, one interesting thing I read in 'Eat. Pray. Love.' by Elizabeth Gilbert was about the origins of the standard goodbye we say/hear here in Argentina: Chau. It is, like the Portuguese Tchau, based on the Italian Ciao and you might be entertained to know that it is an abbreviation of a medieval Venetian intimate salutation: "Sono il suo schiavo!" which means "I am your slave!"

Thought you might want to know.
Chau

Hey Folks,

I am out of the hospital!!!! And Kevin is taking me out to dinner this evening. Yippee! I do, however, remain tied to the hospital until we leave because I need iv antibiotics every 8 hours. But we get closer.

AnnKelly

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We have reservations to return to the states tomorrow evening and will be back in Albuquerque Monday afternoon assuming all goes well. (Note that I accidentally said Tuesday and this is a correction to Monday).

Chau

Random Thoughts

Wednesday night I walked over to Palermo Hollywood for supper. I have managed to get a place to sit at decent restaurants because I am going out at the unfashionably early hour of 10PM. By 11PM there are long lines for almost every restaurant. Unfortunately it’s not all that much fun to go to a nice place to eat by yourself. One of my restaurant criteria is – is there enough light for me to read my book? Right now I am reading Absurdistan by Gary Shteynyngart and enjoying it immensely.

On my way home, there were incredible fireworks over the Rio Plata. I have no idea what was going on but - if you know those big chrysanthemum golden fireworks - there were maybe 50 in the air at one time. I didn’t bring my camera so I went home and got it and of course they stopped as soon as I got back to a place where I could see them. There were lots of other remarkable sights that night with no camera but perhaps that’s good.


A Funny Story – I swear it’s true.

On Monday, I was sitting at La Biela, a beautiful outdoor café in Recoleta. Behind me and to the right were seated a group of the most exquisite Argentines. They all had perfect hair, teeth, clothes. The men were in their forties or fifties and the women looked ten to twenty years younger or had had enough quality work that they appeared so. Many people walking by in front of La Biela stopped to point and look at them or to wave to them. They were obviously some of Buenos Aires beautiful people. They were TV perfection itself.

I, however do not do well in the heat and humidity – I get red faced and sweaty – I didn’t feel worthy of being in their presence. However, since I didn’t have Kelly, I had to take up the slack by snorkel-necking and making up scenarios for them – I was trying to decide if they were TV personalities from the news or an Argentine soap opera or perhaps famous sports figures; race car drivers or soccer stars from the last several decades. After a while I went back to Absurdistan and drifted off.

Then I felt a tap on my shoulder. One of the men from the table of beautiful people had come up to me and asked in English, “Excuse me – Your name is Kris Kristofferson?” With all the savoir faire I could muster I said, “No...Kevin”. He said “I’m sorry” and went back to his table. Over the next twenty minutes or so I could feel them staring at me. They finally left and all smiled and said goodbye as they went past. They stopped at the corner and looked back, shaking their heads, clearly not believing me.

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One of the nice things about moving to the apartment close to the hospital is that I no longer have to take cabs - I can walk. Taking cabs all the time was making me a nervous wreck. I really looked forward to riding in the Subte – the BA subway. It’s a far more civilized way to travel. I do have to say though that BA cabbies are the most remarkable drivers. You are never more than a micron away from other vehicles on all sides regardless of the speed. I am always expecting an imminent crash but it hasn't happened. The whole time I have been here I haven't seen a single fender bender.

Chau

Kelly Blog

Healthy greetings to all from the reluctant star of the blog.

Keep those comments, emails and thoughts blastin’ down here because they sure are working. No matter how terrifying the pain, current procedure, future speculation, what ifs, your love and care for me allowed me to find the courage not to succumb to the panic nor any negative thoughts what so ever. That path only led to disaster. Thoughts of all of you helped me to get through a minute. Two minutes. Enough minutes that whatever was happening was over, if only for the moment. I must say that I never knew that I had the stuff it takes to move through the other side of something like this. So I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

There is a better and better chance that I will be released tomorrow, with a return to Albuquerque possibly as early as next week. Wow. The concept amazes me. I have an odd relationship between the sick me and the well me. On Christmas day I was the sick me. On Christmas evening, when the surgeon came in and pulled the tethers to the bed and ordered me to put on street clothes for a date with Kevin at the hospital café, I astonishingly became the well me. And when I saw the hospital cafeteria, jeez, I sort of thought that they gave me way wrong meds. It was the first time tears leaked. Just a few. I think I am waiting until I get home. Brenda is already on notice. That meal remains a dream.

Here is the course of my days. I wear the sick me hospital gown and feel puny. Negative thoughts not allowed. I put on the healthy me clothes and walk, with Kevin or by myself, down to the café and feel, well, tired but ok. It really is pretty weird.

Today I feel like the regular old me and that feels just right.

Kevin. You all have an idea of the enormous amount of work Kevin has done for me. I am speechless.

Love and more kisses than you can imagine,

Ann Cecelia/Kelly

Son of Update

Things going well. No time for long blog. Working on getting things set up for Kelly to come home.

Chau chau

More Update

First off, I had to set my older sister, Judith, straight. Chau in Argentina is spelled CHAU not Ciao. If you have ever had an older sister, you may understand what they are like. They assume that because they are older, they are correct.

The thing about Phi Beta Kappa was in remembrance of our mother who was a Phi Beta Kappa and never let my three sisters, all excellent students, forget that she was and they were not. The worst rub for my sisters, however, was that I, a terrible student, was also.

Today was a very good day. I was a little worried about Kelly yesterday because she had a low grade fever and looked a little puny. Today she has gone 24 hours without a fever and seems nearly her old self. We walked all over the hospital grounds and she didn’t wear out at all.

For the medically minded among you, she did have positive blood cultures for Staph aureus. She is being followed by and ID doctor or as they say here, an infectologist. I don’t know the sensitivities yet but she will need to be on antibiotics for a while. No idea why she got this. She had an echocardiogram that was completely normal today. It may have been related to the Imitrex injections that she gives herself in the butt from time to time for migraine headaches. Seems a stretch but nothing else jumps out.

If she goes for another day or so without a fever (and I think that she will), she can be released and come in once a day or so to get antibiotics by IV. I have rented an apartment close to the hospital for another week. If she does well with that after a few days she can come home and I will set up her antibiotics through our hospital at home. Best guess at this time is that we will be able to come home in another 5 or 6 days if everything goes OK.

I have spent the past two days searching for a place for myself. I moved out of our apartment yesterday into Che Lulu, a kind of hippy hotel just a step above a hostel -shared toilet and showers.

It has been fun here in that there are shared breakfasts with people to talk to. I had a good discussion about healthcare policy this morning with a German woman, who had also been hospitalized here in Buenos Aires and had a good experience, and two Canadian men. Unfortunately I have to move out of here tomorrow as this hotel and everywhere around is full for the New Years.

I was very anxious about finding a decent place (or for that matter any place) to stay on such short notice – all the hotels are full. I had images in my mind of finding nothing and ending up walking down the two foot wide sidewalks of BA wearing a backpack with my guitar slung over my shoulder, pulling two large roller bags. Fortunately, this morning, I saw a notice on BA Newcomers, a Yahoo news group, about an apartment for rent near Hospital Aleman. Its very modern, light, has internet and a phone and will work just fine.

So I’m feeling better. Yesterday I had decided that if we ever get home again I was going to pull the blinds, have everything delivered and never go further than the end of the block ever again. Now I may even consider going as far as Bernalillo 15 miles from our home – but not without travel insurance.

Chau

Really no news tonight so I'm taking the night off. It looks like they will not release Kelly in time for us to return on our scheduled flight Thus night. Hopefully we can come back early next week.

Chau

More Photos

http://picasaweb.google.com/drke51/BAStarIII
http://picasaweb.google.com/drke51/BAStarIV

Navidad

Its about 8:00PM Christmas night in Buenos Aires. This is by far the most pleasant day we have had weather wise – mid 70s with low humidity, a mild breeze and low humidity.

I spent most of the day with Kelly/Ann. She continues to improve. Her pain is nearly completely gone and still no fevers or anything else of concern.

STOP THE PRESSES - Kelly just called. (She says sorry Rachael that she cut you off)

I was going to say that we had not seen Carlos, the surgeon, today but that Kelly was obviously doing so well that it was not important. I knew that he was the one on call for his group and after seeing the insanity in the air last night, I figured that there was probably lots of work for a neurosurgeon in BA this holiday.

After I left he showed up, pulled the drain from her wound, stopped her IV fluids and insisted that she get dressed and call me to come to take her downstairs to the cafeteria. This was a huge deal for her mental health and mine - to actually be able to do something normal.

It was even better. It turns out that the hospital cafeteria is one of the better restaurants in this area of BA - go figure.

Of course it has a full bar and, as a patient, you can get a table and sit outside and read with your beer or wine in a wonderful courtyard. (I'm not sure that that would work at the VA - no one would ever leave).

Kelly wasn't all that hungry but just to get out was a great Christmas present.

We still don't know when we will be able to leave and I don't want to rush anything. I will let you all know when I know.

Of note since I alluded to a bad cab ride last night. Two cabbies today almost refused to charge me - one because he was of German ancestry and I was going to Hospital Aleman where his two kids were born and the other because I told him I loved Astor Piazola, the great Argentine Tango composer

I am leaving this apartment tomorrow and moving to a small hotel in Palermo Soho. I think I'll have internet there but I am not sure. If the Blog stops, I don't.

Thanks to all of you for your great support and comments. They mean a lot to Kelly - Ann Cecelia. This has been a great way to keep everyone informed but has also been important for me to feel in touch and not so isolated.

Love to you all.

Merry Christmas

As of midnight, Christmas Eve, Buenos Aires time, nothing has changed with Kelly - and that's the best news. No news is definitely good news in this case. Because of that, you get to hear more about my day. You should always be happy to see that I'm talking about myself since that means there is nothing new on the medical front and you can feel free to skip the rest.

I left Kelly about 9:00 PM. I hadn't eaten since the morning, I was starving and panicked because I had absolutely no food or wine at home. I wondered around for a long time, got totally lost and then found myself again while trying to find a grocery store, convenience store, restaurant or anything that was open on Christmas Eve, Nocha Buena. Its a cruel trick that a city that never shuts down - everything is open 24 hours - suddenly shuts down so completely that you can't even buy a pack of Chicklets. I was damned if I was going to spend Christmas Eve with absolutely no food, wine or good cheer.

After about an hour I finally found an Argentine restaurant that was open for a special Nocha Buena dinner for 60 pesos - $20US. I was very hungry and so asked the guy outside what the deal was. He said, "Oh - You are alone for Nocha Buena - Me too." He then introduced himself, clapped me on the back and took me inside. He sat me next to a young couple who looked even more lost than me.

Inside there was a spread of food that was about 60 feet long

as well as grills on either side that had piles of raw fish, beef, chicken and pork so that you could pick what you wanted and have it grilled for you. The place was packed - the picture only shows a little bit.

The couple next to me were from Manaus, Brazil.

They were in Argentina on their honeymoon. He spoke a little English and a tiny bit of Spanish. She spoke only Portuguese; it always surprises me that Portuguese speakers can be completely lost in Spanish but she could not understand a word. It was their first time ever out of Brazil and the only other time that he had been out of Manaus was to go to a rock concert in Sao Paulo. We talked about all of our families and showed photos - they of their wedding and family and I of Kelly and Lewie since that was all I had on the camera. Its funny that some of the nicest conversations that I have had traveling have been with people who are also in a foreign country, with whom I do not share a language, but with whom I can peck away using bits and pieces of a third language.

I had a great time there and took a cab home, got ripped off for 4 pesos ($1.20) by the cabbie - he tried to stiff me for 10 pesos ($3.00) but I stayed my ground.

Then it was time for Christmas. Christmas here means lots of fireworks for hours. The picture is from outside my window at the apartment.